a blog by Montee Wellman

An Obsession for Eternal Life

In America we are obsessed with our lives. Think about it. We obsess about our government and what it’s doing. We are obsessed with having the best no matter what we need to do to get it. The best home, cars, clothes, the best bank account. There are even American pastors who preach that we deserve these things and they do well for themselves because they are preaching exactly what people want to hear about having it all. We are obsessed with how we look. How many dollars and how many hours are spent on achieving what our society considers the perfect face and the perfect body? We obsess with comparing ourselves to others and what they have, what they look like. We are so very obsessed with living our best life on this earth.

Let me tell you about one of my own little obsessions I had to deal with. I’ll share just one here, but I’ve had a couple of others throughout my lifetime. Professional baseball is a very competitive business. You compete as a player to get to that top spot and sometimes you can become obsessed with making it. There’s a lot of fame and fortune to be had and it can become an obsession to obtain it and once you get there, it can be easy to fall in love with it. As a young wife of a baseball player, I can tell you I fell into that trap. I consider myself a humble and simple Christian girl, but I admit, the baseball life obsession was planted inside of me at my first Spring Training. The young me wanted the fortune, the best fashion, the diamonds, the big house, and a dozen cars. Here I was with my husband in professional baseball surrounded by wealth and fame. Inside I wanted that wealth for myself and my husband, but outwardly I was just simple little me. I didn’t admit to myself that the obsession was inside of me. Maybe I just didn’t see it as an obsession, just as the American Way, but deep inside I wanted this stuff. My first Spring Training in West Palm Beach we would drive over to Palm Beach around the mansions and compounds and think we could have this one day. Satan whispered in my ear and the obsession seed was sprouting. Some of the other girls and I would walk down Worth Ave. which is the Rodeo Drive of Palm Beach, and visit the shops there and dream about designer clothing and jewels. I felt really uncomfortable going into some of those boutiques, too fancy for a small town girl like me, but Satan watered the seed of obsession and it grew. I was more obsessed with what I thought I needed in my life here on earth than I was about my relationship with Christ. God opened my eyes to my obsession when we went through some difficult times and when He sent our lives in a different direction. My husband has come so close to coaching in the Big Leagues, but the oddest things always seemed to interfere with it. I can imagine God throwing up the stop sign with His giant hand, now that I look back on the way things didn’t happen. I always joke that we still sit on the AA Island in the Minor Leagues and just wave bon voyage to those who head on to the Big Leagues. God has us where we need to be, I’m not just talking about our position on the “AA island,” I’m talking about how He’s been guiding our hearts to where they need to be for our own good, for our eternal position. Maybe He keeps my husband here to help prepare these boys for the Big Leagues and maybe somehow spiritually influence them so that they will remain humble and not become obsessed with the fame and fortune they may receive. If my husband gets to the Big Leagues, so be it. If not I will praise God for what He has allowed and for Him loving me enough to open my eyes and put an end to my earthly obsessions.

So what can we do to avoid being obsessed with the American Way, with this earthly life? We can become obsessed with living a godly life. In this country we have the privilege and responsibility to seek out good leadership and keep them in check, but let’s not obsess over it until we lose relationships or become so angry that we want to strangle someone with a different opinion. God gives us talents that we can use to provide for our families and He gives us a salary to use wisely, but let’s not obsess so much about our own wants that we can’t give to others who really are in need. God does give us an earthly body that we should take care of by eating right and getting some exercise, but let’s not obsess with it so much that we spend more time exercising our body than exercising our soul. Hey, I’ve had that workout obsession, too. This government, your job, the body you have are only temporary. Your soul is forever. So, do you ever think about what will happen to you when this old earthly body finally gives out, or when God decides it’s time for you to get on outta’ here? Because one day He’ll do just that. We have two choices where we will live for eternity. When our time comes, God won’t care if you did or didn’t make it to the Big Leagues. He won’t care about what position you held. He won’t care who you voted for. He won’t care if your face is full of wrinkles or if you have six-pack abs. What He cares about is what is going on inside of our souls and what He cares about is our relationship with Him, our obsession with wanting to be with Him for eternity.

God created us to obsessively love and worship Him, to obsessively share Him and His ultimate Plan with others. That is the only obsession I desire. I have to pray daily that I can push away the temptation of having it all here on earth. I already have it all because of God’s amazing love for me and the sacrifice His Son, Jesus Christ, made for me on that cross. I have eternal life.

If you don’t know Christ as your Savior, please seek Him. Become obsessed with seeking Him and finding Him. Become obsessed with falling on your knees and asking Him to forgive you of your sins and lead you to where you need to go. Become obsessed with learning more about Him, being more like Him, and sharing Him with others. Live the obsession for an eternal life with Him.

Love, M

Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where He sits beside God in the place of honor and power. 2 Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here. 3 You should have as little desire for this world as a dead person does. Your real life is in heaven with Christ and God. 4 And when Christ who is our real life comes back again, you will shine with Him and share in all his glories. —Colossians 3:1-4